Month: November 2023

Dr. Space: The Life of Wernher von Braun (Bob Ward)

In 1969, when men first landed on the Moon, Wernher von Braun was seen as the herald of, and driving force behind, a brilliant expansionist future for mankind. He was world-famous, in a way that no man can be today, given the fragmented attention of the modern internet-driven globe. But from the perspective of 2023, we can see that even at this apparent apogee, America had already begun its long retreat from Space. No surprise, then, that von Braun’s star has faded. Yet he has never been fully forgotten, and I suspect that among the handful of men who will, or may, make our future, his story is very well known. And for the rest of us, it is worth pondering what his life says about the years to come.

Recent Appearances (November 2023)

I was honored to appear recently in six different venues. Both topical topics and matters other than politics were discussed. Programs where I appeared were: 1) With Hotep Jesus, talking of the Middle East, digital currency, and more. 2) A second appearance on the same podcast where I first appeared on video, the Philosophy of Art & Science with Deacon Henok Elias, where my lighting setup was much improved, and we discussed Orthodoxy, Ethiopia, Francisco Franco, and the future. 3) With Gord Magill, trucking expert and man with his fingers in many pies, on his Substack, Autonomous Trucker(s), where we talked not about trucking, but of other current matters, and farming. 4) With Academic Agent, Neema Parvini, expert on elite theory, on his Cigar Stream, where we debated the strength of the Regime. 5) With economics and wealth expert David Lin, not of politics at all, but of entrepreneurship, and how to get rich. 6) On Forge & Anvil, a multi-party conversation, containing frequent polite but emphatic disagreement about the proper role and behavior of …

Icarus Fallen: The Search for Meaning in an Uncertain World (Chantal Delsol)

It is easy today to see that Western civilization has hit the skids. Twenty years ago, when the French political philosopher Chantal Delsol published Icarus Fallen (the English translation of a work first published in French in 1996), it was not so clear. The signs were all there, and the truth that the Enlightenment scheme had failed was not obscure. But the obvious conclusion, that we should terminate the experiment, was far from mainstream. What is good about this book is that its analysis is incisive and insightful, and thus its prophecies have proven largely accurate. What is bad about this book is that it too quickly rejects the wisdom of the past, and instead calls for that most fatal of projects, a new anthropology of man.